


Stricken

by peacefrog



Category: Hannibal (TV)
Genre: Alpha Will, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Anal Sex, Angst with a Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, No mpreg, Omega Hannibal, Parallel Universes, Possessive Behavior, Post-Episode: s03e13 The Wrath of the Lamb
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-28
Updated: 2016-12-04
Packaged: 2018-08-27 14:47:36
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 7,665
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8405785
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/peacefrog/pseuds/peacefrog
Summary: Their bodies tumbled toward the water, but there was no impact. No broken bones or stinging cold. Will opened his eyes after the falling stopped and gazed upon a green field, Hannibal lying prone beside him. They were bloodied and wounded, the ocean nowhere to be found, nor the cliff face the waves should have sent their bodies pummeling toward.
Or the one in which Will and Hannibal tumble into a parallel universe exactly like their own, with one very important difference: Alpha/Beta/Omega dynamics are now a thing, and they have no idea until they're falling headlong into Hannibal's first heat.





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If surprise A/B/O is a thing, that's exactly what this is. Also, I am entirely new to writing A/B/O and have read very little of it in general, so my take on this may not be what some of you have grown accustomed to. Or maybe it is. I'm just as confused as Will and Hannibal.

Their bodies tumbled toward the water, but there was no impact. No broken bones or stinging cold. Will opened his eyes after the falling stopped and gazed upon a green field, Hannibal lying prone beside him. They were bloodied and wounded, the ocean nowhere to be found, nor the cliff face the waves should have sent their bodies pummeling toward.

Will squinted against the slats of light pouring from the clouds, and for a moment the whole world turned to ashen gold and blue. He turned his attention from the sky just in time to see Hannibal struggling to his feet, wobbling like a foal in its first gasping seconds of life.

“We’re several miles from the cliffside,” Hannibal said, eying the horizon.

Will sat up, and with some assistance from Hannibal managed to stand. “How is that possible?” he asked, groaning at the ache in his cheek, his shoulder, everywhere. 

“Conventional logic would say it’s not.”

—

They found the road and stole a car, thankfully one they didn’t have to fight or kill for. The console clock read just past 10am.

“It wasn’t midnight when we…” Will winced, dizzy from the searing pain as much as the blood loss. “When it happened.”

Hannibal’s face was calm, eyes focused on the road. His bullet wound was still gushing blood into his sweater. “When you tried to kill us?”

Will’s stomach clenched as he caught a glimpse of himself in the passenger side mirror. His cheek was gashed wide open, the entire bottom half of his face masked in blood. “Maybe we’re dead,” he said, turning away from his reflection.

“Unlikely, though entirely possible.”

“Where are we going?”

“Not far.”

Will clicked on the radio just in time to catch the tail end of the local news broadcast. Lecter and Graham are presumed dead, the broadcaster said, voice cut through with static. 

—

They drove deep into the surrounding forest, coming to stop at a small cabin not an hour from Hannibal’s cliffside retreat.

“How many places do you have exactly?” Will asked, watching Hannibal carefully unbuckle himself. His face was pale and ashen in all the places not caked with blood.

“As many as I need, it would seem. Shall we?”

They limped to the cabin, and Hannibal fished a key out from underneath a stone. Once inside, Will barely made it to the linen-covered couch before collapsing in bloodless exhaustion. He closed his eyes, and when he opened them again Hannibal had a large leather satchel open beside him.

Hannibal pressed a handful of pills into Will’s palm. “Take these,” he said, offering a glass of water.

Will eyed him with lazy suspicion. “Considering our history, do you really think that’s wise?”

“If you’d rather the pain continue and infection set in, you’re more than welcome to refuse my care.”

Will sighed and downed the pills. Hannibal doused gauze in antiseptic and made to clean Will’s wounds, but before he could make contact Will turned his face. “Just take care of yourself first.”

Hannibal gripped Will’s chin and gently turned his gaze back toward him. “I’ll be alright. I don’t believe the bullet hit anything vital.”

“You’re bleeding. A lot.”

“So are you.”

Will relented and allowed Hannibal to clean his cheek, then slowly unbutton his blood-soaked shirt and see to the deep gash in his collarbone. His touch was shockingly gentle, and the worst of the ache began to subside as the pain pills kicked in. 

“These will require stitches,” Hannibal said, eying the deep wound slashed across Will’s face. Will pressed his tongue against it from the inside, a clean cut straight through.

“Just do it.”

Will dozed as Hannibal stitched, barely registering the pain. He wondered still if they were dead, trapped somewhere between Hell and indifference, or something bright and brilliant neither of them could ever hope to attain. He wondered where the water had gone, how by some miracle they could end up where they had. It was a miracle, he thought, be it death or one more chance at life. He groggily opened his eyes and hoped for the latter.

Hannibal was tending to himself by then, sweater shucked off and shoulders bare, skin glinting in the harsh lamplight. He cleaned and stitched up the exit wound with ease, but struggled to reach the point of entry on his back.

“Let me,” Will drawled, barely able to lift his hands from his lap.

Hannibal turned to him and smiled softly. “I won’t be a moment, then I’ll show you to bed. You need to rest.”

“So do you.”

The world went black after that, and when Will woke again it was to the dark and safety of an unfamiliar bed, the soft draw of Hannibal’s breathing keeping watch beside him.

—

For two weeks they slept and depleted Hannibal’s stores of non-perishables. They healed and took pills and day after day their strength returned. Neither of them had any rational explanation for where the water had gone, or rather how they had been taken from it, dropped into a field miles away no more injured than the Dragon had left them.

“Have we considered the possibility of parallel universes?” Hannibal asked one evening, bringing Will his pills and a tray of food in bed.

“As far as I can tell, nothing here is different.”

“It’s possible we were transported to a place where everything is the same, only minor details have… shifted.”

“That seems… highly unlikely. Even more so than the two of us being dead.”

“Is what happened not the definition of unlikely? The ocean was beneath our feet, then miles away in an instant.”

Will dry swallowed his pills and picked at the food on his tray, a thick stew Hannibal had managed to pull together from canned vegetables and dried meat. It smelled delicious, but Will found he had lost his appetite. “Okay,” he sighed, scrubbing a hand across his face. “If we were in a parallel universe, how would we know?”

“Subtle changes will give it away. We may not ever be able to tell the difference, or it may take many years and many miles travelled from our current location.”

Will had grown accustom to the quiet of their little cabin in the woods, and though he knew they would eventually have to move on, or at least venture out for supplies, he wasn’t quite ready to break the illusion. The two of them the only ones left in all of existence. “I don’t think I’d like to leave just yet.”

Hannibal smiled and looked away, near bashful. “Nor would I.”

—

Hannibal had a fever, a burning, creeping warmth that started in his center and spread fast through all his limbs. He inspected his wounds, paying extra attention to where the bullet had passed through his abdomen, and all were healing well with no sign of infection.

He thought it a virus, perhaps, when the dizziness kicked in, but the sudden, insistent arousal caught him off guard. It had been some time since Hannibal allowed himself the pleasure of his own hand, weeks or months even, and years since he’d enjoyed the company of another. He had always been masterful at controlling his urges and desires, though now he felt entirely incapable of resisting.

Hannibal went to his bedroom, directly across from where Will lay resting in his own bed. He closed the door and stripped, taking himself in hand right in front of the full length mirror in the corner. His cock was so hard it throbbed, an ache that crept down to his toes and amplified the fevered heat coursing through him. The sight of himself so desperate in the mirror only served to heighten his arousal.

As he began to stroke, an unfamiliar scent overwhelmed him, and then a warm, sticky drip began running down his inner thighs. He reached back with his free hand and dragged his fingers down between his cheeks, across his entrance, and was startled to find he was dripping wet, as if his body had suddenly begun providing its own lubrication. 

The need to be filled, Hannibal found, was entirely overwhelming. He went to his knees and continued to stroke, watching the blurry shape of his own reflection. The room spun as his body roiled, set alight from within. All logic was swept away, rational thought a distant memory. Hannibal pressed his face down into the carpet and pushed his ass high into the air. 

His fingers slid in with ease, his body’s sudden, unexplainable slickness dripping from his hole and down onto the floor. He fucked back onto his fingers and fisted his cock at a frenzied, desperate pace, coming so quickly, and with such force, the whole world turned to static. But where beautiful relief should have been, there only grew more ache. Hannibal continued to fuck himself, utterly insatiable.

Then the door creaked open. “Oh.. Oh my god,” Will gasped, backing out of the room just as Hannibal turned his face toward him.

“Will,” Hannibal croaked, unable to stop the erratic pace with which he fucked himself. “ _Will_.”

Wide-eyed, Will stopped in his tracks and began to scent the air. “I just needed… Oh god, Hannibal,” he moaned, keened, stepping toward Hannibal now with intent. “You smell so good. Why do you smell so good?”

“Will, please,” Hannibal begged, rubbing the pads of his fingers across his prostate with a moan, near agony. “I need you.”

Without a word Will dropped to his knees, the thud reverberating through Hannibal’s bones. Will began sniffing at Hannibal’s skin, starting at his nape and trailing down to the spot where his fingers speared his own body in two. There was a growl, low in Will’s throat, feral and wild, then the sound of his belt being undone, his fly zipping down…

Hannibal had no time to process the transition between his own fingers and Will’s thick cock cleaving him wide open. It happened in a fevered flash, and Will began to fuck with frantic snaps of his hips, fingers digging into Hannibal’s flesh and bone deep enough to bruise.

Hannibal lifted his head to gaze into the mirror, and the sight before him was nearly too much to bear. Will’s eyes were squeezed tightly shut, his bottom lip drawn between his teeth. He grunted and growled like a beast mounting his chosen mate, driving forward on instincts buried and primal. Will’s eyes snapped open, meeting Hannibal’s in the mirror, and the size of him began to swell.

It was as though, Hannibal felt, their bodies were locking together, the base of Will’s cock somehow growing even larger than the head. Will came with a sound somewhere between a grunt and a howl, filling Hannibal with so much sticky warmth, and Hannibal followed him soon after, spilling once more all over his own fist.

“I’m… I’m stuck,” Will panted, voice half panicked. In the mirror his face was awash with confusion, cheeks a deep shade of scarlet.

“Yes, it would appear you are,” Hannibal huffed out, his own cock half hard and body still aching for more.

“What do we do?”

“Lie on my back,” Hannibal instructed. From there they slowly went down to their sides, Will curled around Hannibal from behind.

Will’s chest heaved against Hannibal’s back. “Can we classify this as one of those subtle changes?” 

Hannibal huffed out an exhausted laugh. “I’d say this qualifies.”

They lay there in the afternoon sun splashed across the floor, bodies locked together, Will gently snuffling at Hannibal’s nape.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you made it this far, I hope you enjoyed the first chapter! Chapter two will be coming shortly, and since the theme here appears to be utter confusion, right now I'm clueless as to how many chapters this is going to want to be in the end. In the meantime, come say hi on [tumblr](http://crossroadscastiel.tumblr.com)!


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Everything I’ve read so far makes more sense for dogs than humans,” Will sighed into his hands, so aroused it bordered on painful. He couldn’t shove it down, couldn’t think it away. “This is all just happening so fast.”

They fucked again, right there on the floor in the warm slanted sun, once the knot swollen at the base of Will’s cock had gone down enough for them to move. By the time they were through, their bodies parted, Hannibal was dripping wet with his own slick and so much of Will’s warm, sticky come.

“You should shower,” Will said, gazing at the mess running down Hannibal’s legs. “I’ll make us something to eat.”

Will did his best to calm his aching erection and went to the kitchen. They were down to mostly dried goods, so he arranged beef jerky and granola on a platter, grabbed a bottle of wine, and set the table. While Hannibal showered, Will fetched the tablet from his bedroom and got to Googling.

The first page he landed on was a blog. _The Alpha Instruction Manual_. He began to read, wide-eyed, heart racing, and couldn’t tear his gaze away until he smelled Hannibal enter the kitchen. He was nude, save for a pair of black briefs that sat low on his hips, and hard still, the fabric at his crotch stretched obscenely. His skin was pink and glistening from the shower.

“Find anything of use?” Hannibal asked, joining Will at the table, close enough for their knees to knock together. He nuzzled behind Will’s ear, hand groping Will’s inner thigh.

Will suppressed a growl, forcing himself to gently set the tablet down and uncork the wine as Hannibal pulled away. He had selected a deep red bordeaux and the scent was unusually heady, though nothing compared to the new scent Hannibal was spilling underneath. Pheromones.

“You could say that. If what I’m reading is correct... you’re in heat. That would explain the smell.”

Hannibal considered this a moment, amused. “I see,” he said, face upturned, scenting the air. “Your new scent is quite intoxicating, as well, even more so than usual.”

“Everything I’ve read so far makes more sense for dogs than humans,” Will sighed into his hands, so aroused it bordered on painful. He couldn’t shove it down, couldn’t think it away. “This is all just happening so fast.”

Hannibal moved his chair close enough to practically spill over into Will’s lap. He curled around Will and kissed a warm, wet line up the curve of his neck. “How long will my heat last?”

Will groaned as Hannibal palmed his hard cock through his pants. “Somewhere between a day and a week,” he said, turning his face toward Hannibal. They hadn’t even kissed yet. “While it lasts, you’ll be insatiable. So will I.”

“Such a shame,” Hannibal purred, lips drawn with warmth and hunger toward Will’s. Their mouths melded in a slow ache that built and built until their tongues were tangling together, two fevered maws seeking to devour.

Will broke the kiss and shot up from his seat, pushing his chair away so hard that it crashed down to the floor behind him. “Get on the table,” he panted, fingers shaking as he tried to strip his pants away.

Hannibal’s eyes shone darkly as he spread himself out across the table. Will stripped off his own shirt and shoved his pants and boxers down to his ankles, kicking them back toward the toppled chair carelessly. He tugged Hannibal’s underwear off with such force it sent a wine glass shattering to the floor. 

Inky bordeaux cut through with shards of glass stretched across the tile, its bloody fingers carving out a path toward their bodies like claws seeking flesh. Will dropped to his knees, spreading Hannibal’s thighs wide and nosing at his balls, then up the line of his cock. Hannibal’s scent overwhelmed him, and Will entirely surrendered to primal instinct.

Will nosed down to Hannibal’s hole, pushing his knees back toward his chest. The smell of the slick there went straight to Will’s head and caused his already aching cock to throb in time with his heart. He lapped at the wetness, Hannibal’s lubrication mingling with Will’s own come on his tongue.

“Inside me…” Hannibal begged, gripping the backs of his own thighs and spreading himself wide. “Please.”

The wine was pooling around Will’s knees now. He continued to lap and lick and suck at Hannibal’s sloppy entrance, unconcerned with the shards of glass coming dangerously close to his skin. There was a hunger clawing up from deep inside his bones, more powerful than any instinct he’d ever repressed or followed. 

Will gave Hannibal’s hole one last long swipe with his tongue and stood, glass crunching beneath his feet. Somewhere in the back of his mind rational thought told him to stop, he was bleeding with shards embedded in the tender flesh of his soles, but the need to claim Hannibal, to fuck him deep and hard, won out above all else.

Will’s cock slid in with a forceful thrust, knocking the other wine glass to the floor and toppling the bottle. A cascade of dark wine poured down to the floor as Will’s hips snapped, driving into Hannibal and pulling deep growls up from both of their chests.

When Will’s knot formed this time it was welcome, expected, and he found the sensation of being utterly locked inside Hannibal powerfully intoxicating. He came again, somehow, uncertain how he still had anything left to give, and just as he pumped the last of his warm seed into Hannibal, Hannibal too was coming, untouched all over his own heaving chest.

“You’re bleeding,” Hannibal huffed as Will collapsed into the sticky pool he had left.

“I’ll be alright. We can take care of it as soon as biology so kindly allows us to separate.”

Hannibal’s chest rumbled with soft laughter. He ran his fingers through Will’s sweat-slick hair. “I feel as though I could already go again.”

Will sighed. “So do I.”

—

Once parted, Will slumped back down at the table, bare assed in the nearest chair that wasn’t tipped over on the floor. Hannibal fetched his medical kit, and took Will’s feet up into his lap, inspecting the damage.

“These are quite deep. Did you feel anything at all when it happened?”

“I knew it was happening but I didn’t care. The drive to… take you, it was so strong.”

Will winced as Hannibal poured antiseptic over the wounds and began removing the shards one by one. “Many different species of animal risk their lives in order to mate. Some even fight to the death.”

“We’re human. This sort of thing isn’t supposed to happen.”

“In this universe it is. You were following your instincts as they now are.”

“I just wish it wasn’t so intense. I feel out of control.” Will watched Hannibal for a moment as he tended to his wounds, face soft and tired, cheeks dappled red. “The website I visited said there are things you can take to suppress your heat. Maybe that would be for the best.”

“Pharmacological intervention is not what I would recommend for our predicament.”

Will laughed as Hannibal began to bandage his feet, wrapping long strips of white from his toes to his ankles. “Of course you wouldn’t. You’ve wanted this for a long time. Or something similar. Biology is giving me no choice but to want you.”

“Is that all this is? Biology and primal urges spurred by pheromones, and I the bitch in heat at your mercy?”

“I don’t know how to answer that. This isn’t exactly something either of us has experienced before.”

Hannibal gently stroked Will’s feet through the bandages after he’d secured them. “I suppose we’ll find out soon enough, then.”

—

The two of them cleaned up and ate their scant, dry dinner. After, Will limped to his room without a word. Even behind the safety of the door he could smell it, the heady stench of Hannibal flooding his nose and setting his mouth watering and his cock aching all over again.

He flopped down in his bed and ran his hands across his face. He’d begun letting his beard grow long once Hannibal had removed the stitches from his cheek, and the coarse hair now nearly covered the scar. Will pressed beneath to feel along the ridges of tight connective tissue, still pink and tender. If nothing else, his smile would never sit the same on his face again.

The pull of skin on his cheek, and in places that had long since softened over the years, served as reminders of so much blood and pain. A shared history carved into his flesh. Those things that had left him terrified, traumatized, and utterly confused. Will turned his face into his pillow and began to rut softly against the bed, just to take the edge off. It was agonizing, and only made him crave the touch and taste and warm embrace of Hannibal more. 

Whatever he felt for Hannibal, before or after their change, he couldn’t think clearly enough to know if that bond was enough to erase the shadows of their past. If it would make him want to stay in the absence of primal desire. If love and connection could win out in the handsome face of death.

Soon enough, though. He would find out soon enough.

—

Will found Hannibal in his study, sketching by the light of a roaring fire. He sat straight-backed at his desk, though the sweat dripping from his brow and the subtle, anguished stretch of his lips gave away his desperation.

“It’s going to hurt if we deny ourselves,” Will said. “You more so than me.”

Hannibal continued his drawing, short swoops of his pencil dashing elegant lines across the page. “We’re nearly out of food,” he said, eyes focused on his work. “I can venture out soon if you’d rather stay behind.”

“I changed my mind. I think maybe isolating ourselves like this is making it worse. If we’re careful we can find another place, further north maybe.”

“We are presumed dead, after all. No one will be looking for us.”

“Jack Crawford is never going to stop looking for us. No matter how different this universe ends up being, that’s never going to change. But the general public might.”

“Further north, then. We can leave in the morning if you’d like.”

Will had to force himself to walk away on his aching feet, the beast inside howling deep, desperate to have its way. Hannibal remained there trembling at his desk, room filled with the sound of pencil scratches and crackling flame.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hoping to wrap this up in five chapters if all goes according to plan. In the meantime, come say hi on [tumblr](http://crossroadscastiel.tumblr.com)!


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Will managed to doze in spite of the ache of gnawing instinct. When he awoke they were just outside of Stonington, Connecticut, the gas gauge reading past the point of empty. Hannibal pulled into the first fill station they passed, a desolate place with a single pump and the only other car in sight belonging to the attendant.

Outside, wolves howled. Will stood at the window, gazing into the moonless night. He’d already packed his things, or rather the things he’d found at the cabin weeks previous. Mostly Hannibal’s clothes, though they fit well enough, and were surprisingly practical considering the source.

The sun would be peeking over the horizon soon, clawing its path toward a bright new day. Will wondered if Hannibal were sleeping, or perhaps writhing helplessly on his bed, sheets soaked through with perspiration and slick. For his part, Will had managed to get his erection to die down, finally, though Hannibal’s sweet pheromones still wafted on the air, maddening.

At the first hints of light through the curtains, Will went to the kitchen for coffee, then out onto the porch. Hannibal was there, face upturned to the sky.

“We should stick to back roads until we can find a new car,” Hannibal said, gaze falling down to the gravel path where the car they’d stolen weeks ago was parked. “This one’s most certainly been reported.”

Will inhaled, sipped his coffee. It was too hot, scorching his tongue, but the burn was quickly forgotten as Hannibal’s scent carried into his nose and across his palate. It was zero to a hundred in an instant, his cock swelling well past the point of discomfort, drifting into agony as his eyes raked up the slope of Hannibal’s back. The sweater he wore was thin and clung to his shoulders. 

Stubbornly, Will kept the beast at bay, though he wanted nothing more than to bend Hannibal over the porch railing and slide into all that warm, slick heat, fuck him until they were both sobbing into the early morning light.

“I’m ready to go whenever you are,” Will said, tearing his eyes away.

“Breakfast first,” Hannibal insisted, turning toward the door. His slacks were tented, his face etched in subtle discomfort as he passed Will on his way into the house.

—

Breakfast was dry cereal and powdered milk. Will wondered absently if it were the worst thing Hannibal had ever eaten. He thought of Hannibal’s childhood and his own, both abandoned in their own quiet, terrible ways.

Hannibal fueled up the tank via gas can and they loaded their bags into the car, Hannibal behind the wheel. In the passenger seat, Will was so close to the spill of pheromones he considered sticking his head out the window for some relief, but thought better of it when he considered the implications.

Will balled his hands into tight fists in his lap, nails cutting into his palms. “Where are we going?” 

“Is there anywhere you would like to go?”

“Our old world, maybe, though I don’t think that’s a likely option.”

“It wasn’t long ago you sought to take us out of that world.”

Will sighed, inhaled. Hannibal smelled as golden apples must taste, enchanting as fragrant nymphs drawing him to doom. “At the time, it seemed like a reasonable decision,” he said, choking on the sweet air, pressing his forehead to the cool glass of the window. “For what it’s worth, I’m glad we’re both alive.”

Silence fell after that. Will managed to doze in spite of the ache of gnawing instinct. When he awoke they were just outside of Stonington, Connecticut, the gas gauge reading past the point of empty. Hannibal pulled into the first fill station they passed, a desolate place with a single pump and the only other car in sight belonging to the attendant.

Will filled the car as Hannibal went inside to pay. He didn’t think too hard about how much of his fortune Hannibal still had stowed away, in foreign accounts under assumed names, likely swiping a card and assuming an identity that belonged to a former patient or enemy. He didn’t even have to ask if Hannibal had passports and other documents stowed away for both of them in his bag. He would expect nothing less.

When the tank was topped off but Hannibal still hadn’t returned from inside, Will followed his scent through the door, a bell overhead loudly clanging his arrival. Hannibal stood at the counter, blankly gazing at the attendant. He was coming on to Hannibal hard, stroking his cheek, his voice a rumbling murmur. They were oblivious to Will’s presence, or simply too high on pheromones and desire to care.

Another alpha, Will knew. How could he resist the scent pouring from Hannibal in waves? Under normal circumstances, Hannibal would have snapped his neck without question, but in his heat-stricken state, having been denied by Will for nearly an entire day now, he was powerless to resist.

“Hannibal,” Will called out, finally drawing their attention. Anger bubbled in his veins, though he did his best to maintain composure. “Let’s get out of here.”

The man behind the counter scowled. “Who the fuck are you?”

Will crossed to the counter, slow and calculating, fists bunched tight at his sides. “He’s mine.”

According to his name tag, the man behind the counter’s name was Caleb. “That so?” 

Will frowned at Hannibal. The arousal clouded in the air grew intoxicating. Infuriating. “Go wait for me in the car.”

“I’m not a child, Will. I don’t need you looking out for my wellbeing.”

Will growled, hand snapping around Caleb’s throat so fast he hardly remembered thinking to do so at all. Caleb made a grab for Will’s wrist but the beast inside Will lunged, head butting Caleb back into the display of liquor bottles behind him. He hit the floor hard as Will rounded the counter. Hannibal stood off to the side, patiently observing, visibly aroused.

Caleb was dazed, nose bloodied and mouth upturned in an angry scowl. Before he could make a move Will had his hands wrapped around the hilt of a broken vodka bottle, and years of killer instinct funneled through his mind in a flash. 

_If you don’t kill him, he’s going to kill you_ , a voice whispered in the darkest corner of Will’s mind. _And then he’s going to take Hannibal._

Will jammed the jagged glass into Caleb’s jugular in one smooth, easy motion. It was so simple. Too simple. Blood spurted onto the glass and Will’s hands. Caleb collapsed back in shock and surrender. Will had busted his own nose in the process of head butting Caleb and blood trickled warm down across his lips. He licked it away with a warm swipe of his tongue.

Will crouched there panting, watching as spurting red slowed to a trickle. He dropped the broken bottle to the floor. Footsteps approached behind him. Hannibal’s sweet scent mingled with copper in his nose.

“Will…”

There should have been panic, the urge to hop in their stolen car and flee. There was a questionably operational camera in the corner, and regardless someone would stop by sooner or later and discover the body. Instead, Will found himself dragging Hannibal to the car, opening the backseat and pushing him down inside. 

He settled down between Hannibal’s legs, rutting their hard cocks together through their pants. Will kissed Hannibal hard and hungry on the mouth, leaving a shocking smear of scarlet in his wake. His bloodied hands groped at Hannibal’s clothes, staining him red all over.

“Mine,” Will panted against Hannibal’s neck, blindly working their flies open and tugging at their pants. “You’re mine, Hannibal.”

Will’s head swam with unspeakable desire, no longer able or willing to stave off the beast. He had to pull back for a moment to fully get Hannibal’s pants off, and the ache bloomed past the point of unbearable. He couldn’t be certain how much was genuine need on his part and how much was terrible, new world biology, but he barely had his pants shoved down below his hips before pushing Hannibal’s knees back to his chest and sinking into his slickness with a ferocious snap of his hips.

Hannibal keened as though he were being impaled, tears prickling in his eyes. The rush of relief as their bodies rocked together was agonizing. Hannibal gripped Will’s ass and drove him deeper, his own swollen cock leaking in a steady stream against his belly.

“Were you going to let him fuck you?” Will huffed, driving in to the hilt and holding himself there, watching Hannibal writhe.

“I’m unsure what would have happened had you not come in. I’m not accustomed to feeling so out of control.”

“Maybe you wanted me to find you like that.” Will pulled out, slammed back in again hard. “Maybe you wanted me to kill him.”

Will rocked in slow, one last time, and Hannibal shot sticky warmth all over his own chest, tears streaming down his face in earnest. Will’s orgasm crashed in like waves, rolling across his spine and curling down around his toes.

Will sat back on his heels, chest heaving, and ran his fingers through the mess on Hannibal’s skin. “We should get out of here.”

Hannibal pulled Will’s fingers to his mouth and sucked. His lips and cheeks were dabbled from exertion, and still stained red with streaks of Caleb’s blood. Will’s heart calmed at the sight, utterly lost in his eyes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for taking nearly a week to get this chapter up, especially considering the short length. Will do my best to get chapter four up before next weekend. In the meantime, come say hi on [tumblr](http://crossroadscastiel.tumblr.com)!


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “I can’t,” Will whined softly. “I can’t.”
> 
> “You don’t have to do anything at all. Allow me.”

The sky burned white with cloud-filtered sun. Will stumbled back out of the car. He and Hannibal were a mess of blood and slick and sweat. Will went inside to fetch the restroom keys from behind the counter inside, having no choice but to step through a thick crimson puddle. He left red footprints in his wake all the way back to the door.

They washed up and changed and talked about hiding the body.

“What’s the point?” Will sighed, sudden exhaustion unrelenting. He wondered, absently, if Hannibal would like to eat some part of his victim. The thought made Will’s knees wobble and his stomach churn as they made their way back to the car.

They drove for hours, no destination in mind. The sun had just begun to kiss the western horizon when they passed a rundown motel so far from civilization it might have been a mirage. Hannibal circled back around and parked the car in the shallow forest a half mile away, just in case. They walked inside the line of trees on their way back, sunset burning out the day in fits of golden flame at their backs.

—

Their room had double beds with scratchy floral quilts that made Hannibal frown. Will grabbed two miniature bourbons from the honor bar and flopped down on the bed nearest the bathroom. He didn’t bother getting a glass, shooting back the contents of both before kicking off his shoes.

Will eyed the bathroom. He needed a shower, but getting there felt impossible. He flopped backward onto the mattress just as Hannibal settled down between his knees, nuzzling Will’s soft cock to hardness through his pants.

“I can’t,” Will whined softly. “I can’t.”

“You don’t have to do anything at all. Allow me.”

Will wanted to, so bad. The urge had been never-ending for 48 hours straight. Toeing the line between man and animal, Will found himself in a desperate grab for his humanity. Before he could protest, Hannibal had Will’s pants down, taking his length into his mouth.

“Hannibal.” Will slung an arm across his eyes. His hips bucked involuntarily. “It isn’t supposed to be like this.”

Hannibal pulled back with a slick pop. “How is it supposed to be? You and I rotting at the bottom of the ocean?”

“I already told you I didn’t want that. I just…” Hannibal swallowed him down again. Will gasped. “We should be able to control this.”

Hannibal just hummed. His mouth was so warm. Will sank back into the mattress and let it happen. Then, as quickly as it had begun, Hannibal stopped, and Will found himself whining out loud.

“Lie in the middle of the bed,” Hannibal instructed. He already had his own pants half off.

Hannibal tossed his pants to the floor but left his shirt on. He straddled Will’s lap and let Will’s hard length settle between his slick cheeks. “It’s close to unbearable every moment you’re not inside me. It’s unlike anything I’ve ever known.”

Will gripped Hannibal’s hips and helped him ease down onto his cock. Hannibal took Will’s hands and pinned them above his head, rolling his own hips and fucking himself frantically, as though his very existence depended on making Will come.

It didn’t take long at all before Will’s knot was swelling and locking their bodies together, and Will was coming softly, so softly it might have only been a whisper. His mind fogged over, the room around them swimming away. The last thing Will registered was Hannibal mouthing at his throat, covering him in warmth from hip to chest.

Will must have fallen asleep, because when he opened his eyes again he had been stripped naked, Hannibal perched beside him with a warm cloth. He swiped it across Will’s face, his neck, down to his chest and belly. Will sighed.

“What are you doing?”

“I wanted to help you wash, though I didn’t want to wake you.”

“How long was I out?”

“An hour or so. There’s dinner, if you’re hungry.”

Will squinted against the lamplight. On the nightstand were bags of chips and candy bars, along with several bottles of water.

“You really went all out.”

Hannibal patted Will dry with a towel. “I look forward to cooking for you again. One day.”

Will stared at Hannibal’s hands, strong and capable and elegant. “Where will we go?”

“I’m not entirely certain, though this universe appears to be similar enough to our own that all my hidden assets are all still in place. I have passports and new names for the both of us. I have enough money stowed away to get us anywhere in the world.”

_Anywhere_. Will wondered if there existed a place distant enough to separate them from who they had been. If there existed a place new enough to allow them to be what they would become. “I’m cold,” he said, turning his face away from the light.

“Get up, I’ll turn down the bed.”

Hannibal stripped the covers off and Will climbed beneath the scratchy sheets. Hannibal gazed down at him, patiently, expectantly. 

“Maybe… we should just sleep in our own beds tonight.”

Hannibal nodded, silent, and crossed to the other bed. “Is there anything you’d like to talk about?”

“There’s too much we need to talk about. Seems impossible to know where to begin.”

“Is it painful for you to be around me?”

Will huffed out a bitter laugh. “Are we talking biology, or… everything else?”

“The biology of our new selves is a given. It will hurt every moment we don’t come together until my heat is through.” Hannibal leaned back against the headboard and clasped his hands across his belly. “In terms of everything else… I don’t expect you to be alright.”

“And I don’t expect you to be my therapist again. Or to be something that you’re not.”

“And what am I exactly?”

“You’re a killer.” _My best friend. My worst enemy. My…_

“So are you.”

“I’ve killed… when I had to.”

Hannibal was silent for a moment. Will swore he could hear the ghost of words clicking through Hannibal’s brain. “Did you have to kill that man today? Certainly you could have found another way.”

Will could still taste the blood on his tongue, sharp and acrid. “He was going to kill me to get to you. It was self defense.”

“I wonder, if not now, when you will finally accept yourself for what you have become.”

Will gritted his teeth, though too truly exhausted to be angry. “I’m not like you.”

“You know that I’ve never wished to make you anything other than your full self.”

“I’m not even sure what that means anymore.”

Silence once more. The bedside clock flashed away two minutes before Hannibal spoke again. “Do you wish to live away from me?” he asked, finally. Hannibal’s voice had never sounded so small.

Will sighed hard and let his eyes fall shut. “Just… ask me again when your heat is over.”

“Of course.”

Hannibal quietly got up and changed into his pajamas before crawling back into bed. He clicked off his bedside lamp and turned his back to Will.

It was early still, but Will was so tired that every part of him throbbed and ached, his mind perhaps the worst of all. He curved his body toward Hannibal, the space between them feeling more like miles. He watched Hannibal’s back rise and fall, gently. He considered crossing those miles and curling up at Hannibal’s side, melting into the warmth spilling from every part of him. Instead, he clicked off his own lamp and lay there in the dark, wondering if Hannibal was dreaming.

Through the thin wall television sounds seeped in, filling Will’s head with an endless droning buzz. The pheromones, it seemed, had quieted, though perhaps it was only the exhaustion. Will’s chest burned with emptiness. His arm fell from the side of the bed, hand outstretched toward Hannibal, sleep clawing in to claim him, silent.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My apologies once again for taking so long in between chapters but life has been a mess. Thank you to everyone who has been taking the time to read and leave kudos and lovely comments. One more chapter to go, I promise lots of sweetness after all this conflict and pain. <3


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Will woke to sunlight beating through the half-open curtains. Hannibal wasn’t in the room. Will’s head throbbed and his body ached right down to his toes. At first he thought himself hungover, but he hadn’t drank nearly enough. A hangover of a different sort, perhaps.

Will woke to sunlight beating through the half-open curtains. Hannibal wasn’t in the room. Will’s head throbbed and his body ached right down to his toes. At first he thought himself hungover, but he hadn’t drank nearly enough. A hangover of a different sort, perhaps. 

He ate half a bag of off-brand potato chips, trailing crumbs across the sheets, and downed an entire bottle of water before willing his legs to move. He pulled on his boxers and a t-shirt, then padded from the bed to the door, shivering as he stepped outside.

Hannibal was sitting on cold concrete across the parking lot, back pressed up against a lamp post. Arms wrapped delicately around his knees, he appeared quite small. Vulnerable. Human.

Will strode barefoot across the cracking asphalt. He inhaled deep when he reached Hannibal, his nose filling with nothing but chilly morning air. “How long have you been out here?” he asked, gazing down at the top of Hannibal’s head.

Hannibal didn’t look up at him. “I watched the sun come up.” 

Will shivered. “Come inside. It’s cold.”

“My heat is over.”

Will breathed in. Out. “I know.”

“Will you be moving on now?”

Will huffed out a sigh. “I never…” He dropped to his knees next to Hannibal. “I never said I was going anywhere.”

“You didn’t say you weren’t.”

Hannibal turned his face to Will. His eyes were red and puffy, cheeks glistening with the ghosts of tears. The way he trembled made Will ache hard and deep and set his stomach churning.

“Come inside. Please.”

Hannibal allowed Will to pull him to his feet and together they shuffled back to the room. Hannibal perched on the edge of his unmade bed and watched Will move around the cramped space.

“You pace when you’re nervous.”

Will forced his legs to still. “I’m not nervous.” He clasped his hands behind his back to keep from fidgeting. “Why were you crying?”

Hannibal ducked his head, hiding his face. Will had never considered that Hannibal could fall victim to shame. “Are you going to leave?”

Will flopped down on the bed next to Hannibal. “I don’t know where we’re going to end up. How we’re going to end up. Dead, alive… in twin padded cells back in Baltimore. In this universe or back in our own. But I know that I don’t want to do any of it on my own. Not without you.” Will turned to Hannibal and cradled his face, forcing their eyes to meet. “I don’t regret killing that man at the gas station. Even now. It wasn’t just some animal instinct.”

Hannibal continued to frown, though his face softened a little. “Your protective nature is very much rooted in animal instinct,” he said, closing his eyes and melting into Will’s touch. “Like all things in nature, we are driven to protect those things we feel are vital to our existence.”

“Well I guess that’s what I was doing then.” Will pressed a fleeting kiss to Hannibal’s lips. “I had a dream about you. About us.”

“Would you like to tell me about it?”

“We were wolves, tearing our prey apart. And then we weren’t. Beast and man. The most beautiful confusion.” Soft laughter spilled from Will’s chest. “My subconscious wasn’t feeling particularly subtle last night.”

Hannibal smiled at that. “Perhaps subtlety is overrated. It can be nice to get to the point.”

“Yes. It can be.” Will pulled away and stood. “Will you lie back for me, please?”

Hannibal silently sprawled out in the center of the bed. Will gazed down at him for a moment, then climbed in and straddled Hannibal’s thighs. Will trailed his fingertips down the thin cotton of Hannibal’s shirt. 

“I owe you an apology. If you’ll allow me…” Will tucked his fingers beneath the waistband of Hannibal’s pajama bottoms. 

Hannibal could only nod, wide-eyed beneath his mess of ruffled hair. Will moved down between his thighs and began to tug on Hannibal’s pants and underwear. Hannibal lifted his hips and kicked them off and onto the floor. 

Will bowed himself in Hannibal’s lap. “I’m sorry,” he said, pulling back the foreskin and pressing a kiss to the leaking head of Hannibal’s cock. “I’m sorry.”

“Oh… Will.” Hannibal threaded his fingers in Will’s hair with a whimper. “ _Will_.”

“I won’t leave you.” Will lapped at the slit, swirling his tongue around the swollen tip. “I’ll never leave you.”

Will took Hannibal fully into his mouth then, moaning as he worked the length deeper and deeper. Hannibal was so hard he pulsed against Will’s tongue. Will gagged once, hard, and pulled back to let Hannibal fall from his lips.

“You don’t have to do that,” Hannibal breathed, tugging on Will’s shoulders.

“Please,” Will whined, stroking Hannibal from root-to-tip. “I want to. I want to taste you.”

Hannibal groaned, keening as Will took him back into his mouth. Will fought against his own gag reflex working Hannibal closer and closer to the edge, taking the head of him into the warm embrace of his eager throat. 

Will cared not for his own arousal, allowing a new instinct to take over where for days there had been nothing but the clawing need to take and claim. He needed Hannibal’s pleasure as though it were his own. The fog of his mind finally lifted, he had never felt more certain where he belonged.

Hannibal came with a sob and his fingers digging into Will’s scalp, back arching off the bed. He shot the warmth of his release across Will’s tongue and down into his throat. Will sputtered and nearly choked, but in the end he swallowed down every last drop.

Will collapsed at Hannibal’s side. They lay there gazing at the swath of sunlight cast across the ceiling until their breathing evened. Will was hard, but he ignored it, reaching over to thread his fingers with Hannibal’s.

“So, do you forgive me?”

Hannibal laughed softly. “I believe I will always forgive you.”

Will sighed. “We should probably get back on the road soon.”

“Yes. Chances are we were filmed at the gas station. We should leave the car where it is and find another means of transportation. They’ll be looking for us.”

Will curled into Hannibal’s side and closed his eyes. “So let them look. Let them come. I won’t let anyone take you from me ever again.”

“Are you going to protect me?”

It was a concept so absurd it should have felt entirely alien. Hannibal the Cannibal needing protection. The Chesapeake Ripper safe in the clutches of the only man who could ever catch him. But where absurdity should have resided, Will found nothing but quiet contentment and hope. An understanding that, come what may, it would forever be the two of them against the world.

“Yes,” Will breathed, holding Hannibal close. “I will always protect you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you all enjoyed my first little foray into the wonderful world of ABO. Thank you all so much for reading and for your lovely comments. <3
> 
> Come say hi on [tumblr](http://crossroadscastiel.tumblr.com)!


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